Lawyers to probe jurors about views on Patel

Queensland political editor

The anonymous men and women who will make up the Supreme Court jury pool on Thursday morning will have to delve deep into their beliefs and prejudices before they're allowed to hear any of Jayant Patel's manslaughter case.

The former Bundaberg Base Hospital surgeon will stand trial charged with manslaughter over June 2003 death of Mervyn Morris.

The 75-year-old died three weeks after Dr Patel performed an operation, which the prosecution contends was unnecessary, on him.

In an Australian first, the 12 jurors and the three reserved jurors will be polled on their potential bias after they have been selected.

Advertisement

The jury members will be given a questionnaire which asks them to consider their prejudices and prior knowledge of the case in private and without discussion in the jury room, before being brought back to the court room where they can be questioned further.

Once the answers are complete lawyers will be able to question any jurors in open court.

Unless a juror specifically requests for an answer to remain private, the answers will, most likely, be made public.

Jurors will be asked a handful of questions, including;

Have you heard anything about Jayant Mukundray Patel and if so, what have you heard?

Can you recall any particular source of where you heard it?

Would it be difficult for you to decide that Jayant Patel is not guilty and if so, why?

Do you have any attitude towards Indians which might prevent you giving him a fair trial?

The questions, formulated by the defence and the prosecution teams in a pre-trial hearing on Tuesday afternoon, consider pre-trial publicity and what impact it could have on Dr Patel's manslaughter trial.